Pisces Dessert: Raindrop Cake with Ube, Spirulina and Coconut
This is the second creation in my zodiac dessert series where I design a delicious dessert for each sign.
This is for Pisces.
Pisces
Edible fish flakes and coral, juice caviar, and coconut dust and sweet coconut cream surround a clear dome made with agar agar, a gelling ingredient derived from seaweed.
This dessert is inspired by the raindrop cake, a Japanese dessert of a round Jello-like typically served with kinako (roasted soy bean flour) and kuromitsu (black sugar syrup). I’ve used different garnishes with mine suit the Pisces palette.
Much like our Pisces friends, one big tear is at the centre of this dessert. When left unattended, it will completely melt into one big puddle. The raindrop cake is as clear as the crystals adorning a Piscean’s home. As a water sign, the ocean is embodied with this mermaid palette and with the addition of blue spirulina and agar agar. Pisces is symbolized by two fish, which I wanted to honour with coconut fish flakes, juice caviar, and an edible coral decoration to help it feel like home. The main flavour of the dish is the delicious combination of coconut and ube which is added in powdered form. Thankfully, this vibrant colouring is readily available now due to its recent association as a “superfood,” which any Piscean would eat right up at their next visit to the health food store. Gullible fishies!
The rather neutral base not only absorbs the flavours and feelings of the garnishes, it totally adapts to them once in your mouth. The raindrop cake melts and melds with the various textures, like any good mutable sign would. Pisceans are known for their great capacity for empathy and for putting others’ needs above their own. In this dish, the surrounding flavours are certainly prioritized over our watery centre. I wanted this dessert to look like an oceanic fantasy, with little to know roots in reality.
Raindrop Cake with Ube, Spirulina and Coconut
Ingredients
- 3/4 c water
- 1/8 tsp agar agar powder, rounded
- 1 package of creamed coconut, about 140 g
- 1/4 c icing sugar, divided in half
- Purple sweet potato powder and blue spirulina, or food colouring of choice
- 1 c coconut milk, from the can
- 3 tbsp sugar
- Purple sweet potato powder and blue spirulina, or food colouring of choice
- 1/4 c lime juice
- 1/2 c water
- 1/2 tsp agar agar powder
- Purple sweet potato powder and blue spirulina, or food colouring of choice
- 1 cup vegetable oil, chilled
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp flour
- Food colouring of choice
Instructions
- Gently warm creamed coconut in a bowl in your oven or microwave until melted and liquid-y. Divide into two bowls. Add food colouring into each until your desired colour is reached. Reserve 2 tbsp of each colour in separate bowls and set aside.
- On a piece of parchment paper and using an offset spatula, spread the coconut mixture out as thin and evenly as possible. Set parchment on a baking sheet and put in the fridge to set. About 20 minutes.
- Add icing sugar to your remaining creamed coconut mixture and incorporate with your hands until the texture of slightly wet sand is reached. You can add more colouring if you'd like. Set aside.
- Once coconut cream mixture is firm, break into small, fish flake-sized pieces. Set aside.
- Chill your oil in a tall glass in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Combine your juice and agar agar in a small pot and put on medium high heat. Whisk occasionally until it reaches a boil. If you want two colours, divide this mixture into two and then add food colouring. Allow to cool for 2 minutes.
- Using a squeeze bottle, syringe, or even just a spoon, add droplets of your juice into the cold oil. The droplets will sit on the surface for a moment and then fall to the bottom.
- Strain your caviar and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
- Combine flour, water and oil in a bowl and mix thoroughly. If you want to two colours, divide the mixture and add food colouring as desired.
- Pre-heat a non-stick pan on medium high heat. Add batter to pan 1 tablespoon at a time, and fry until the whole surface is matte and crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set on paper towel. Continue until no batter remains.
- Mix cream, sugar, and food colouring in a small pot and heat until warm. If you want to two colours, divide the mixture and add food colouring as desired. Leave in fridge to cool.
- Mix water and agar agar powder in a small pot and heat over medium high heat, stirring gently as to not create air bubbles. Once boiling, poor into round silicone molds. Set in fridge until firm, about 1 hour.
- Once all your elements are complete, you can assemble. Begin by demolding the raindrop cake onto your plates. Add each garnish in a pile beside the raindrop cake, leaving the sweetened coconut cream for last. Finish with your coral decoration and serve immediately.